Cheney Is Spelled Q-U-A-Y-L-E

When George W. Bush chose his Dallas neighbor Dick Cheney to be his running mate, it was called a good choice by any number of people including me.

But after what Cheney's been through this week, you have to wonder if he still thinks it was a good idea.

Just look at what happened to him one day last week.

His hometown newspaper, The Dallas Morning News, reported he hadn't voted in 14 of the last 16 elections.

He scheduled a campaign stop in Shelton, Conn., at the urging of Mark Nielson, the local Republican candidate for Congress only to discover on arrival that Nielson was running TV ads citing Joe Lieberman — yes, that Joe Lieberman - as the kind of public official Washington needs.

To top it off, The Associated Press revealed that Cheney's old company, Halliburton, maintains segregated bathrooms at its overseas operations - some for Westerners only, others for locals.

That got a lot of attention, even though a Halliburton spokesman pointed out - and we're quoting here - Cheney wouldn't have known about the company's "overseas commode policies."

Occasional turbulence is part of every campaign and veteran politician Cheney knows it, but clearly he's not the guy to ask "are we having fun yet?"

You get the feeling Dan Quayle would find more enjoyment at a spelling bee than Dick Cheney is having on the campaign trail.